When You Know It's Real, Don't Fight It

Written on
December 29, 2015

Say What Now?!

There's a song that is a part of my daily worship playlist. It's called 'Clear the Stage.' Besides the voice of this angelic, serenading singer being the initial reason I continued listening, there’s so much to this song.

'Clear The Stage' is about removing all things in your life that do not belong. All things of this world that are sinfully and unrightfully occupying your time, interfering and blocking the presence of the Lord. The party ends now as you clear the stage and stand there, waiting on God to rescue you.

"Seek the Lord and wait for what He has in store and know that great is your reward and just be hopeful."

The song goes on and there's a line that he says towards the end. Yes, we just skipped the entire song. But don't hesitate because everything in between is meant just for you to hear.

He says, "Anything I put before my God is an idol. Anything I want with all my heart is an idol. Anything I can't stop thinking of, is an idol."

You get the point? This song has always been one of my favorites. How often I've found myself stuck wondering why God and his presence seem so distant. Questioning whether God hears my prayers.

To be honest, there have been many times when I've asked myself, "Do you truly believe?"

Yet, though my journey and my walk with God are not over, I learn the lesson every day.There are many things I have placed before God. Many people. Many situations. Pretty much the God who is supposed to be in FIRST place, was the 10th runner up. Why do I do it?

The thing is it's not always intentional. On the other hand, we tend to make bargains with God. "God, I'll do you a favor as long as you give me this job." "God, I really want this relationship to work with this person. I know, our vertical relationship isn't so good, but just help me with this first before I lose him/her."

Can you imagine? Instead of saying, God draw me closer to you, we have a stage filled with stand-in's when the lead, main, most important character is standing right there saying, Hello. I'm here. Why aren't you calling me out on stage?

Clear the stage. Our stage is our life.

What we believe, what we do, who we allow to be a part of it is all a representation of our love for God and how we view Him.

Believe it or not. We're human. God knows that we are not perfect and nowhere in the bible does it say we will not fail. In fact, there are promises that there will be trials and even death. Yet, that is not supposed to push us to idolize or depend on someone in this world. Instead, everything is meant for us to open our arms and push out the idols, "If that's the measure you must take."

In my personal experience, I've allowed men to be my temporary idols. I've convinced myself into thinking that men were the only way that I could receive love. After so many years of trial and error, learning every day from experience, sorry to break it to myself but that is actually a lie.

Seeking God and the reward He has for my life is the truth. I don't want to feel like I am giving more to an outsider, especially before I do God and myself.

So, clear your stage. Find a moment to figure out what is holding you back from the deep intimacy with God. Do not worship false idols.